Winners announced for Codeworks hackathon

Last month, Transport for NSW and Roads and Maritime Services, in partnership with Deloitte, hosted the Codeworks hackathon in Sydney’s CBD. Eight winners will be entering the next stage of development.

Launched in 2012, the Codeworks hackathon was designed to create a series of apps that will benefit road users in NSW. In the State, there are over 5 million vehicle license holders across 20,000 kilometres of road, so opportunities for tech entrepreneurs to create successful application are abundant.

Currently there are six Transport apps in the marketplace: TripGo, Triptastic, TripView, Arrivo Sydney, TransitTimes+ and Next There, which are all available on iTunes and Google Play. All of these apps were created as a result of Codeworks, and has been widely adopted – achieving more than 2 million app downloads with 45 million calls for data on developers servers per month.

In last month’s event, around 50 teams of app developers and entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to an expert judging panel. Eight winners have been selected and will be progressing to the next stage of development.

Transport for NSW Deputy Director General, Customer Experience Tony Braxton-Smith said the panel made their evaluations based on a range of factors including customer benefits, technical feasibility, usability and design. The amount of development support to deliver the final product was also considered.

“The eight teams we’ve selected are an exciting mix of established developers with proven delivery capabilities as well as those who have some fresh and innovative ideas which challenge the status quo,” Mr Braxton-Smith said in a media release. “The concepts are quite diverse so it will be an exciting time to see how they all gradually turn into products that have the potential of benefiting up to 5 million people who currently hold vehicle licences in this state.”

The winning app concept designs include advanced journey planning, alarms and alerts to advise customers of optimised departure times, as well as ideas that address the needs of specific customer groups such as car pooling parents or delivery drivers. Some of the new apps are expected to be released into the market in the upcoming months

“Now the challenge is to convert the selected concepts into actual products that will benefit motorists,” said Mr Braxton-Smith.

The eight winning teams are:

Team

Product proposal

Toastedmint

Provides transport options to determine the quickest and easiest routes for road users.

SkedGo

Provides real-time road information to the public in the context of their trip with calendar integration.

Hot Chocolate

A feature rich application that allows users to enjoy an end-to-end road journey with calendar integration.